Scars of Betrayal
by SilentSable
Summary: Naruto regrets not bringing Sasuke back during the retrieval mission, but why isn't Kyuubi healing the hole Sasuke had made in his chest with the chidori how does everyone react to his failure. Warnings, character death. One shot.


Okay, now don't kill me people, I know I still have stories and chapters withstanding, but I really felt like doing this one shot after I watched the episode after the valley of the end, episode 135. Please be gentle, also review please!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own.

* * *

Naruto lay in the bed, his wounds slowly healing under all the bandages. He had failed, he hadn't brought Sasuke back, and he had seen that even though Sakura's mouth had said it was fine, her heart was crying.

Looking down again to the object that was giving him so much grief, Naruto ran a bandaged hand over the scratched surface of his team-mates forehead protector, 'Sasuke' the name rang quietly through his head, sending ripples through his subconscious.

His sparkling blue eyes were dull, the spark of life had faded when Sasuke had shoved the chidori through his chest, just missing his heart, but he may as well have destroyed that too for all the good it now did, for the once vibrant life giving organ was dead and only beating slowly enough so as not to end the miserable existence of his life.

Clenching his fist tight around the metal wrapped cloth, the jailer of Kyuubi no yoko, Uzumaki Naruto, the number one most surprising ninja, did the one thing he had sworn he would never do, he brought the steel to his face and let go of his tears, letting them flow softly down his scarred cheeks, to soak into the dark cloth he held so close.

Almost as if sensing he was not alone the boy looked up, but instead of seeing the smirking black eyes of his closest companion all Naruto saw was hazel brown, Lady Tsunade.

Turning away, he ignored the words of kindness and consolation she spoke to him, he ignored the gentle kiss placed on his cheek.

Naruto was caught in an illusionary illusion, a nightmare played over and over, as if his brain were punishing him for his failure.

The blond boy felt more than heard Tsunade leave the room, her sunny aura draining from the small space, leaving it dark and cold once again.

Looking down at the fist still clenched around Sasuke's symbol of betrayal, Naruto nuzzled it, taking in the scent of a boy he would never see again, making sure that it would always be in his memory, filed under 'traitor'.

The first true bond he had ever made, the first person he had ever truly cared about, was as far away as his dream, almost unreachable, but close enough to taunt him, close enough to say 'How can you become Hokage if you cannot even save your friend?' close enough to shove a blade of screaming lightning through his chest and leave him dying, close enough to feel, to touch, to hold.

More tears fell, leaving dark stains splattered on the white hospital sheets, tainted, yes just like his soul, tainted black with hatred and red with blood.

Climbing from bed and stripping the bandages from his body, Naruto left the room in nothing but his boxers, though he didn't seem to care, and people couldn't laugh, for he was dead, in almost every aspect Uzumaki Naruto had died with a chidori through the chest, and this was only a clone carrying out his final wish.

The boy leaned heavily on the wall as he walked, his strength almost gone, but he still had one last task, one more mission before he could rest, he had forced the Kyuubi's chakra down so far that it could no longer reach his wound, the hole in his chest, though it didn't bleed it ached constantly with the phantom pain of betrayal .

He let it alone, for as it slowly drained his life force it allowed him a moment of weightlessness, a moment to dream that the world was perfect and that his friends were all laughing around him, lying on the grass smiling, not lying in intensive care dying of incurable wounds.

A moment where Sakura didn't secretly despise him for not bringing Sasuke back, that all of rookie nine didn't hold him accountable in some way. A moment where dreams seemed like reality.

The grounds of the hospital where empty, and the moon was hiding behind bloated clouds, filled with tears and sorrow.

It was perfect, it described his feelings so well. His strength almost gone, Naruto fell to the earth and scratched at the earth using his soft fingers, which became bloodied swiftly due to rocks and glass contained within the soil, but still the blond boy never gave in, he only stopped once a large hole lay before him, and with the last of his remaining strength he let his body fall forwards, to land with a muffled thud in the dark embrace of Kami, an embrace where no troubles could ever reach and sadness could ever penetrate.

Slowly scraping a nail through the soft metal upon his forehead, Naruto allowed himself to drift away, Sasuke's last words floating through his mind as his body headed into the darkness of eternal rest.

That was where they found him, his body cold and stiff, but his lips were smiling faintly, as his hand clutched a scratched forehead protector against his heart, as if it were listening for a nonexistent heart beat.


End file.
